FamilyTravelGurus

by Tim Larison

One of our favorite shore excursions to take on a cruise is a whale watching excursion. We have enjoyed whale watching in Alaska, Cabo San Lucas Mexico, and in Hawaii. Here are some tips on scheduling a whale watching excursion on your cruise:

1. Check if there is a local tour operator that offers a whale watching excursion instead of booking a ship tour. Often a local tour operator will have a smaller, less crowded boat than the cruise line tours, and often the local tours are less expensive. One of our favorites is Orca Enterprises in Juneau, Alaska ( www.orcaenterprises.com ). Captain Larry of Orca Enterprises has a knack for finding the best whale watching spots - we have enjoyed his tour and we have had many clients who have, also.

2. Whale watching can be hit or miss. On another trip to Alaska we once took a cruise line whale watching tour to see how it compared to Captain’s Larry’s. We hardly saw any whales on the ship’s tour! On our trip to Cabo San Lucas (pictured above) we weren’t expecting the whale watching to be as good as Alaska or Hawaii, and we had one of our best whale watching excursions ever. If you have a less than satisfactory whale watching excursion, try not to be too disappointed and try again next time!

3. Bring your cameras, with fresh batteries and plenty of film! I always find it a fun challenge to get the best whale pictures I can, and these type of pictures are great to share memories of your cruise with the folks back home.

4. While we think a private boat tour is usually the best way to see the whales, don’t forget the whale watching opportunities from your cruise ship. After our disappointing whale watching excursion in Alaska Anne wrote “After returning to the ship I was able to see 2 whales swimming around the ship for a while. I actually had a better view of these 2 whales from the ship where I was warm and dry than I did the one whale we saw on the crowded boat in the wind and rain…go figure!”

5. If you are prone to motion sickness, be sure to take sea sick medication before your adventure. A whale watching boat is smaller with a rockier ride than a big cruise ship.

If on your next cruise you are in an area known for whale watching, we highly encourage you to try this fun type of excursion!

by Tim Larison

Alaska voters will go to the polls on August 22nd to decide if cruise passengers will pay an additional $50 per person state head tax, and also require cruise lines to make some changes in the way they operate in Alaska.

In an interview with Travel Weekly magazine, Gershon Cohen (a co-author of the legislation) said “People see the cruise lines as an outside industry that uses Alaska and doesn’t pay its way.”

On the other side, Carol Fraser owner of the Aspen Hotels of Alaska told Travel Weekly “The cruise line industry accounts for 23,000 jobs in Alaska. They pay taxes, they give money to nonprofits. It’s sad that the cruise lines seem to be the bad guy in our tourism industry. They’re not.”

It’ll be interesting to see how the vote goes. If it passes, it seems the only impact to cruise passengers will be a $50 increase in taxes per person. The cruise lines will see bigger changes, however, and may pass their additional costs onto passengers. For example, if the bill passes cruise lines will have to disclose the markup they charge for shore excursions.

I am a big proponent of booking independent tours on Alaska sailings. I have had great experiences in my cruises to Alaska booking with local operators instead of cruise line excursions. Often private excursions are less in cost, less crowded, and with very knowledgable local guides. If this legislation passes the cruise line tours may become less popular as passengers will see what the cruise line markup is.

Alaska is one of my favorite cruise destinations (I took the picture above at Hubbard Glacier in September 2005). Alaska cruises are becoming more and more popular. Princess has seven ships in Alaska this summer; Holland America has eight. I hope if this legislation passes it will not discourage people from cruising to Alaska.